My primary research interest is in the use of ecological theory, particularly life history-based models, in population dynamics and management. I use advanced mathematical and computational techniques to identify basic first-principles of the ecology of infectious diseases, to explore costs and benefits of alternative policies for natural resource management in a multi-objective, multi-attribute framework and to analyse population dynamics and extinction risk of endangered populations. My research focuses on population management in a variety of ways, including quantitative studies of real-world systems and purely theoretical studies that inform practical management approaches. My goal is to assess the effect of ecological and environmental heterogeneities on population dynamics and management and to estimate key parameters that may be incorporated into population models useful for decision-making.

Much of my research is collaborative and ranges across taxa and disciplines. This is reflected in the diversity of journals and topics on which I published. My broad quantitative training has allowed me to research fundamental questions in quantitative ecology, such as those related to scaling laws in ecology and the analysis of population dynamics, as well as more applied questions on conservation of endangered species, fishery management and environmental impacts. I am especially interested in connecting academic science to decision tools and effective conservation practices. I worked extensively on the demography, conservation and management of the European eel (A. anguilla) and the marble trout (S. marmoratus), the optimal bioeconomic management of mollusc farming and the development of Habitat Suitability models for the Manila clam T. philippinarum, the problem of algal bloom control in Adriatic coastal lagoons and the development of Rapid Assessment Methods to assess the status of coastal lagoons throughout Italy. Recently, my work has also focused on the interactions between spatial networks of Marine Protected Areas and different schemes of fishery management, a problem that I am addressing both from a theoretical perspective and, specifically, for the abalone fishery of Isla de Nadividad in Mexico.

I am also interested in modelling wild animal diseases, with specific reference to the analysis of the costs and the effectiveness of different strategies for the control and eradication of pathogens in the wildlife and the identification of scaling laws in host-parasite systems by using allometric relationships of host body size.
Finally, I studied, through bioeconomics analysis, the anthropogenic impact on human health and ecosystems in order to understand the costs and benefits associated with the environmental policies of both the private and public sectors. Specifically, I have used techniques for the monetary and non monetary assessment of local and global external costs of energy production to assess the economic benefits of the Kyoto Protocol in Italy.

I conduct my research activity at the Hopkins Marine Station and, as a senior fellow, at the Woods Institute for the Environment, where I am going to teach courses in population dynamics and natural resource management. Currently, my research group includes 3 PhD students, 1 post-doc, and 1 technician.

My additional collaborations include a suite of Italian, European and US Institutions, i.e., Princeton University (Andrew Dobson), Emory University (Leslie Real), the biological station of Tour du Valat in France (Alain Crivellì), the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara (UCSB, USA) the EIFAC/ICES Working Group on Eel and, in Italy, Politecnico di Milano (Marino Gatto), University of Padua (Lorenzo Zane), of Milan (Silvia Galassi), of Ferrara (Remigio Rossi e Giuseppe Castaldelli), of Venice (Patrizia Torricelli) and the Italian Minister of Fisheries (MIPAF) serving in the panel for the design of the Eel Management plan according to the EU Regulation 1100/07.

S.Vincenzi, A. J. Crivelli, D. Jesensek, G.A. De Leo, 2008. Total population density during the first year of life as a major determinant of lifetime body-length trajectory in marble trout. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 17: 515–519 DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0633.2008.00309.x (IF 1.206 RANKING 18/40 in FISHERIES)

De Leo G.A., M.Gatto, A.Caizzi, F.Cellina 2002. The ecological and economic consequences of Global climate change Recent Research development in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Special issue: Biotechnology and Bioengineering of CO2 fixation, 163-183.

De Leo G.A., I. Ferrari, 1993. "Disturbance and Diversity in a River Zooplankton Community: A Neutral Model Analysis", Coenoses:The interdisciplinary journal reporting progress in community and population studies, 8:121-129.